Process of drying and removing hops from the vine



March 8, 1932. R. LANGEVIN 1,849,010

PROCESS OF DRYING AND REMOVING HOPS FROM THE VINE Filed- D60. 5, 1950Snuentor Patented Mar. 8 1932 RAO'UL LANGEVIN, or MoxnE CITY, wAsH INeTon rnocnss or DRYING AND nni rov ve HorsrRoM THE INE ApplicationfiledDecember 5, 1930. "Serial no. 500,425.

The present invention relates to improvements in processes for pickingand drying hops. y

Heretofore hops were gathered by pickers,

Whose practice was to place a basket beneath the vine and to manuallystrip the clusters of hops from the vine into the basket. The shaking ofthe vine was found to cause insects, such as spiders and worms, to fallinto the basketwith the hops. A great quantity of leaves was alsonecessarily gathered in with the crop, which leaves are one of thegreatest annoyances to hopgrowers, resulting oftentimes in the rejectionof an entire In manual picking, many of the hops fall to the ground. Onbeing picked up large quantities of dirt are lifted with them and placedin the baskets by the pickers who are usually careless and interestedonly in getting weight into the basket, the picking of hops beingusually paid for by the pound. WVhen hops, so picked, are placed uponthe dryer-floor the heat in the dryer drives the insects to the top andthey are at times observable in such quantities as to almost completelycover the hops themselves. The insects are not removed and are dried,together with the leaves and dirt, with the hops and remain in the hopsto be baled for the commercial market. g

It is an object of the invention to lmprove the drying of hops and theremoval of same from the vine in a more effective and sanitary mannerand to provide a commercial product free of leaves, dirt, insects andother foreign matter.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention, will bemore fully deticularly pointed out in thesclaims appended hereto.

The figure is a diagrammatic view of a hop crop, entailing considerablefinancial loss..

scribed hereinafter, and will be more parwhole vine is cutin'the fieldand removed to the drying kiln in which it is placedand subjected toatemperature of 120 to 140 Fahrenheit for a period oftwo hours'more orless according to the size and thickness of the vine. I During thisdrying period the leaves 1 be:

come as dry as powder and may be'removed by heaters, shakers, suction byfan and vari one other ways. 'During'this beating or shaking or otherprocess, the leaves are crushed are removed from thevines. The hops onthe and all the dust,insects and crushed leaves vine, a'ndthevineitself, arestill green'andtough," which makes it easy to remove theleaves without damageto the hops.

Now that the leaves are removed, the vines are again placed in the dryerfor a period of two and one-half to three hours at approXimately thesame temperature of 120 to 140 Fahrenheit for the. purpose of drying thesmall thin stems 2 which lead to the individual hops 3. After subjectingsuch stems to this heat for approximately the time indicated, such smallstems 2 become dry and brittle. The hop is easily threshed offthe vinesby beaters, suction of fan, rollers and various other ways in a mannerto leave the hop Whole and still without damage.

From this point the hops go to the hopper of the top dryer for the finalfour or five hours of drying.

Also they may be steamed and sulphured at this point and are then readyfor the baler.

In'eii'ect, the first time the hops are submittedto a dryingtemperature, the heat and time exposed thereto are sufficient only todry the leaves; the vine, the stem and the hop itself remains green andtough. The whole vine with leaves and hops attached is then passedthrough rollers, beaters,-or some other device, and the leaves being dryand brittle fall away, leaving the vine, stem and hop.

The vine, stem and hops are again submitted toth'e drying temperaturefor a given length of time, as ahove stated, and this exposure to heatis suflicient to'dry and render the stem, which attaches the hops to thevine, brittle.

' The zhops themselves are thereupon easily removed by beaters, suction,fans or rollers, and

the hop itself is then ready to be placed in the kiln and treated anddried.

What I claim is:

1. An improved process for drying and removing hops from the vinecomprising subjecting the vine containing the leaves and the hops toheat until the leaves are thorough- 1y dried out, removing the dried outleaves subjecting the same vine containing the hops to further heattreatment until the stems to i the hops become dry and brittle, andremoving the hops from the vine. V

2. An improved process for drying and removing hops from the vinecomprising subjecting the Whole vine containing the leaves and the hopsto a temperature of substantial- 1y 120 F. for substantially two hours,removing the leaves and subjecting the same vine containing the hopsaloneto a temperature of substantially 120 Fl for substantially tWo andone half hours and removing the hops from the vine.

3. An improved process for drying and removing hops from the vinecomprising subjecting the Whole vine containing the leaves and the hopsto a-temperature of substantially F. for substantially tWohours, removeing the leaves and subjecting the same vine containing the hops aloneto-a temperature of substantially 140 F. for substantially three hoursand removing the hops from the vine.

RAOUL LANGEVIN.

